New modern trains to begin serving Yorkshire from December

Rail firm Northern is preparing to phase out its outdated Pacer trains from December and to replace it predominantly with a fleet of new trains worth half a billion pounds and capable of reaching 100mph.

The new trains, coupled with new services, will see Northern offering new services by 2025.

David Brown, managing director at Northern, called the investment '˜a landmark moment for rail travel in the north of England'.

'As well as looking like 21st Century trains, our new state-of-the-art units will be capable of travelling at 100mph, will have wifi, plug sockets at every seat, will be air conditioned and fully accessible,' he said.

The first new trains are set to come off of the production line in Zaragoza, Spain, and will be phased into the Northern network from December and throughout next year.

His colleague Richard Allan, head of customer experience, called the investment 'a real vote of confidence in the north'.

'It is half a billion pounds worth of new trains coming in for local rail in particular,' he told The Yorkshire Post

'Other operators have had new trains coming in for longer distance journeys but to get half a billion pounds worth of investment into local rail certainly has not happened for a generation.'

He added: 'A lot of people have been campaigning for this for many years, including business and media, and saying that the North deserves better.

'Well, the north is getting what it deserves and we don't want to stop here, we want to do more of it and will be pushing for more.

'Over the course of the franchise we expect to carry a significant number of more journeys.'